Southern University coach Dawson Odums sounded like most of his college football contemporaries on signing day Wednesday, pleased with the talent he landed and convinced this will make his squad better. But Odums also sounded an alarm Wednesday that he is quite concerned about needed upgrades for the Jaguars football facilities.

He thinks it may be hurting them in recruiting.

The Jaguars signed 17 players as of Wednesday afternoon, including eight transfers who have already enrolled. But Southern lost a key quarterback commitment, Cordelral Cook of Stone Mountain, Ga., who signed with SWAC rival Alabama State on Wednesday. Cook, 6-foot-0, 205 pounds, had been committed to Southern since December and most thought he would make good on it come Wednesday morning.

Though Odums can’t mention Cook by name, he said Alabama State has better facilities and that is hurting Southern.

“Usually it comes down to facilities and budgets,’’ said Odums, who guided Southern to the SWAC Championship last year in his first season as the fulltime coach. “Why are we losing a guy to Alabama State who has been committed to us for two or three months. Why? You go to Alabama State and they have great facilities. They show them nice things. At the end of the day, that’s what recruiting is all about.

“We’re doing everything we can to get them here. We give them a great weekend. We treat them nice. We show them what we have to offer. It’s just happens when you go to somebody else’s house and it’s a little bit better. You can keep losing players if (another school’s) house is better than yours. That’s my challenge.’’

Odums pointed to several lights in his office that were out and hadn’t been replaced. That hurts when he brings players’ families in there to visit with them, he said.

He said he thinks he and his coaching staff have major selling points to make.

Odums is known as a player’s coach but isn’t afraid to suspend even the star players. He said that’s a good quality to have. But dated and worn facilities are hindering him.

“Some parents say, ‘Coach has a good heart. I want my child to go play for him,’ ‘’ Odums said. “Other parents say, ‘They can’t even keep lights on. They must have financial problems.’ We have to understand that.

“It’s got to become a (better) football facility. You’ve got to put money into it. I don’t make the decisions on tearing down the practice field and putting up and starting anew. All I know is as of today, you don’t see a bulldozer out there. All we can base it on is what we have. And all we have sometimes, with the recruits we recruit, is not enough. It’s not enough.’’

Quarterback will be a key position for the Jaguars next season. Senior Dray Joseph, from West St. John High, was a key cog in Southern going 9-4 in 2013 and winning the SWAC title. He selected the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year last fall.

Losing Cook hurts. The Jaguars signed one quarterback, Jarrad Hayes of Central.

What Odums said he was pleased with was the speed of this recruiting class and the quality of linebackers.

“I thought we had to shore up our linebacking corps,’’ Odums said. “We had 13 offensive linemen and eight defensive linemen coming back. Pleased with the linebackers that we got.

“(The Karr players are) undersized but good football players. Sometimes as coaches, we get caught up on size. We’re looking for football players. And you don’t go to the Superdome year in and year out, like Edna Karr, if you don’t have football players. We like to have players from schools that win championships and compete for championships.’’

Among the transfers who’ve already enrolled are former Tulane safety Renaldo Thomas, who left the Green Wave program last summer, and former Florida safety Rhaheim Ledbetter. Ledbetter was moved to fullback last fall, playing sparingly, and left the Gators at the end of the season in December.

Odums said his staff did an outstanding job of recruiting the 2014 freshmen class. He said all will have a chance to play when practice starts in August.

“I think it’s all about getting on guys early from the time they’re juniors and even when they’re sophomores tracking those guys through their senior years,’’ Odums said. “I really think that’s what made the difference in this year’s signing class. I think we got some difference makers in this class. I think we have some guys that will be standout players this year.

“And adding the transfers was very important. They fill holes immediately. They’re guys that you plan on playing right away.’’